138. Letter From Foreign Minister Gromyko to Vice President Nixon0
Dear Mr. Nixon: The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, N.S. Khrushchev, asked me to answer your letter of August 11 which raises the question of the possible departure of certain persons from the Soviet Union to the United States of America.
First of all, I would like to mention that correspondence is already underway with the US Embassy in Moscow concerning some of the persons you mention and that the Embassy has received the necessary information and answers. I have been assured that when necessary this will be done also in the future.
Concerning the question raised in your letter about the departure from the USSR to the USA of some other Soviet citizens, the decision in such cases lies within the competence of police organs [militia]2 in accordance with the procedure established in the Soviet Union. A necessary condition for consideration of a departure case is a formal personal application by the individual concerned.
Of course, if there should be an appeal by the Soviet citizens you mentioned to the indicated organs with an application for departure, their requests will be considered with proper attention as is always the case in the consideration of such affairs.
For my part, I express the hope that the Government of the United States of America will show due cooperation and understanding in satisfying the interests of Soviet citizens who express the desire to leave the United States for the Soviet Union.
With sincere respect,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 261.1111/11–1759. Confidential. Transmitted as an enclosure to despatch 258 from Moscow, November 17. A notation on the despatch indicates that the original and the Embassy’s translation of this letter were sent to Nixon’s office on December 4. In telegram 1438 from Moscow, November 17, which also transmitted the text of this letter, Thompson reported that when Gromyko handed him the letter that morning, he also referred to Secretary Herter’s recent letter to Gromyko with two accompanying lists of American citizens and relatives of American citizens who desired to leave the Soviet Union. Thompson said that virtually all the people named on the two lists had applied for Soviet exit visas, but Gromyko said that in the past U.S. information was often incorrect and that the required applications to the Soviet militia had not been made. (Ibid., 261.1111/11–1759) Herter’s letter to Gromyko and the two lists have not been found, but the letter was summarized briefly in telegram 1377 from Moscow, November 11. (Ibid., 261.1111/11–1159)↩
- Document 104.↩
- Brackets in the source text.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩